Editorial

In the WRI office we are often asked 'What does WRI think about this?' when a 'crisis' hits the newspapers.

Often, we have written a statement telling people what we think.

Whilst such statements can be useful, they can also be irrelevant.

At the last WRI Executive meeting, we assessed different ways that WRI have responded to political crises in the past - what worked and what didn't, and the particular situations that determined the efficacy of the initiative.

In this edition of The Broken Rifle, we thought we could keep this conversation going by highlighting places that have been heavily focused on by the media in the last year, and ask our contributors - what happened? Where was international solidarity in your situation? And what could be done differently on an international level again?

We are aware that media agendas are weighted, determined by those with power to do so, and told from their perspective. Other stories go unheard, or are ignored after the dust that springs from the initial story has settled. For WRI it's important to promote those other stories, attempting to raise awareness of a struggle that is not widely known about.

An activist writes from Mexico, Björn Kunter on Ukraine, Ayah Bashir on Gaza, Koldobi Velasco on the Ebola crisis, and how solidarity has been militarised, Merve Arkun on Kobanê, Christine Schweitzer on Islamic State in Iraq-Syria and Javier Gárate looks at some of the different ways we have, as an International, provided solidarity in the past.

Hannah Brock